Boeing posted an image today of a Louisiana Air National Guard F-15C wearing a pair of conformal fuel tanks (CFTs). The tanks are part of a new initiative to give the F-15C fleet more gas and weapons carrying capability in order to execute what the Air National Guard calls future "persistent air dominance missions." The 159th Fighter Wing "Bayou Militia" is the first unit to receive the tanks for testing and evaluation.

Boeing's Randy Jackson stated the following in an email to the The War Zone:

"The first flight with the tanks was achieved in just 10 months after the start of the program and marks a major milestone in establishing the operational utility of the conformal fuel tanks. Boeing received a multimillion dollar contract from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency in early 2017 for initial integration, testing and support, and delivered the tanks ahead of schedule. The first test flight on January 31st lasted two hours and took place over the Gulf of Mexico."

This major upgrade is part of a series of upgrades—which include a new digital countermeasures suite, infrared search and track system, new cockpit, among other enhancements—that are slated to allow the F-15C/D fleet to soldier on till 2040 and possibly beyond. The aircraft that receive these upgrades are called "Golden Eagles."

DrCaleb
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:12 am

xerxes
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:50 am

Really surprised they didn’t have them already. The F-15C has been in service a good while now. You would think it shouldn’t have taken so lngvto get CTF’s

BartSimpson
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:00 am

xerxes wrote:

Really surprised they didn’t have them already. The F-15C has been in service a good while now. You would think it shouldn’t have taken so lngvto get CTF’s

The avionics and other upgrades to the F-15 were pushed back by the USAF leadership in order to try to justify the F-35 as a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none platform.

This development is a a tacit admission that the F-35 really isn't going to replace all of the specialty aircraft in the US arsenal.

The big thing with this development is the acknowledgment that the F-15 can carry satellite-killer missiles and long range air-to-air missiles.

Read on in the article and you'll see some neat strategy.

Stealth fighters, stealth drones, (and maybe even stealth bombers) will be able to close on enemy formations and then have the F-15 fire long range missiles which would be guided to their targets by the closer stealth aircraft.

Boeing posted an image today of a Louisiana Air National Guard F-15C wearing a pair of conformal fuel tanks (CFTs). The tanks are part of a new initiative to give the F-15C fleet more gas and weapons carrying capability in order to execute what the Air National Guard calls future "persistent air dominance missions." The 159th Fighter Wing "Bayou Militia" is the first unit to receive the tanks for testing and evaluation.

Boeing's Randy Jackson stated the following in an email to the The War Zone:

"The first flight with the tanks was achieved in just 10 months after the start of the program and marks a major milestone in establishing the operational utility of the conformal fuel tanks. Boeing received a multimillion dollar contract from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency in early 2017 for initial integration, testing and support, and delivered the tanks ahead of schedule. The first test flight on January 31st lasted two hours and took place over the Gulf of Mexico."

This major upgrade is part of a series of upgrades—which include a new digital countermeasures suite, infrared search and track system, new cockpit, among other enhancements—that are slated to allow the F-15C/D fleet to soldier on till 2040 and possibly beyond. The aircraft that receive these upgrades are called "Golden Eagles."

You know you're old when you remember F-15s as front line aircraft in Air Force squadrons, not as Air National Guard planes...sigh.

BartSimpson
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 12:21 pm

bootlegga wrote:

You know you're old when you remember F-15s as front line aircraft in Air Force squadrons, not as Air National Guard planes...sigh.

Don't worry, the F-15 is still active with plenty of USAF squadrons.

xerxes
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:18 pm

Good. It’s relic of a time when defense contractors could make an excellent plane at great price, at least by today’s standards. According to Wiki, the unit cost of an F-15C is $30m. A bargain compared to the F-22 or 35.